


Much Better (Now That You're Here)

by weegee1204



Category: Chicago (2002)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/F, Post movie AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-29
Updated: 2017-04-29
Packaged: 2018-10-25 06:09:58
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10758321
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/weegee1204/pseuds/weegee1204
Summary: The bad thing about being on the road, Velma figured, was that you were always losing shit.The good thing about being on the road, Velma realized, was that you sometimes found something too.





	Much Better (Now That You're Here)

**Author's Note:**

> me: literally has over 100 wips i could work on  
> also me: cranks this out in an hour
> 
> so, anyone like hurt/comfort?

The bad thing about being on the road, Velma figured, was that you were always losing shit.  


She swore under her breath as she checked her bag once again for her pack of cigarettes, but by now she suspected that they had been left in her dressing room earlier that day. She sighed at the thought of the wasted 15 cents, as well as how she definitely couldn’t go the rest of the night without one. The only other place she could get them from was her partner, who didn’t seem to be in a great mood, considering how she’d shut herself in her hotel room as soon as they’d gotten back from their show. Which didn’t bother Velma much- she wasn’t one for insisting they hang around together during their free time- but meant that getting her to share her cigarettes may be difficult.  


Velma walked out the front door of her room, stepping across the hall to knock loudly on Roxie’s door. No response.  


“Hey, kid, it’s me, open up.” She listened for any indication that her partner was coming to answer the door before trying the doorknob itself. It was unlocked, which surprised Velma, but didn’t stop her from opening the door and entering.  


She saw Roxie, hunched over on the bed, jump and throw a quilt over her lap and legs. “Hey!”  


“What’s the matter with you? Didn’t you hear me knocking?”  


The blonde’s face screwed up in anger. “This is my room, you can’t just barge right in-”  


“Don’t sweat it, I’m just grabbing some more smokes.” Velma crossed the room to the dresser, where an open box of cigarettes laid. She took two for good measure, and turned to leave just as quickly, but stopped when she took in how Roxie was sitting. “What’s wrong with you?”  


Roxie narrowed her eyes. “Nothing, I’m fine.” Velma was about to respond when she caught sight of the outline of Roxie’s hand under the blanket, covering her ankle in a suspicious way.  


“Hey, hey. What’s that?”  


Roxie pulled her legs closer to her chest defensively. “What?”  


“That. Your ankle.”  


“It’s nothin’.”  


“Don’t look like nothin’.” Velma raised an eyebrow. “Move over.”  


Before Roxie could protest, Velma sat next to her on the bed, lifting her partner's legs and placing them across her lap. She noticed the small whimper that came from Roxie’s direction, but disregarded it as an affronted squeak- until she got a good look at the leg in question.  


“Jesus, kid, what’d you do?”  


The entirety of Roxie’s right ankle was bruised, in various shades of red and purple. What’s more, it was swollen to almost twice its size, creating a very painful looking image.  


Roxie shrugged, staring down at the quilt. “I think I twisted it or somethin’.”  


“When? Was it during one of them flips?” Velma took what was in Roxie’s hand- a rag of ice, holding a few almost-melted ice cubes. She gingerly placed it on a better spot on the ankle, where most of the bruising was showing. “Because I told you you gotta bend your knees when you land-”  


“It wasn’t today.”  


Velma frowned. “When was it?”  


There were a few moments of silence before Roxie softly answered, “Kansas City.”  


“Kansas City?” This was a surprise. “Kid, that was a week ago. You danced on this?” That was almost unbelievable, especially for the routine they had performed earlier that day- one of the more acrobatic, and frankly exhausting, routines that Velma had performed with her sister. The costumes involved tall boots, which explained how Velma hadn’t noticed the bruising earlier. She tried to recall any other indication that Roxie had been in pain at all during the performance, but she had to hand it to her: the kid was nothing if not professional on stage.  


“Why didn’t you tell me? We could’ve done one of the slower sets.”  


Roxie glared at her defiantly. “I could still do it, there would’ve been no point in changing it.”  


Velma felt herself heating up the way she did when she and Roxie argued. She tried to control herself- if she wanted the kid to listen to her, yelling at her would make things worse.  


“Listen, I know you think you’re hot stuff- but this could’ve been worse. You could’ve seriously hurt yourself. Permanently. I don’t care how good you think you are, if you can’t dance then you need to tell me- ” She cut herself off when she heard Roxie mumble something. “What?”  


She wasn’t expecting to hear a waver in Roxie’s voice when she repeated, “I thought if you thought I couldn’t dance, you’d leave me behind.” This was enough to make Velma do an almost comedic double take. She definitely wasn’t expecting to hear her partner say that.  


“What?”  


Almost as soon as the word was out of Velma’s mouth, Roxie continued. “I mean, you’re good enough for the both of us. Say I skip a show and some hotshot manager sees you and likes what you do by yourself. Next thing I know you’re booking solo shows left and right, and I’m stuck workin’ the crowd at some dive bar in Lubbock.” Roxie’s eye filled with tears, and her lower lip wobbled. If Velma hadn’t known her, she would’ve thought that it was the fakest, most scripted crying she’d ever seen, but unfortunately, the kid was being 100% sincere.  


“Oh, shit, kid, look, don’t cry.” Velma carefully moved in closer to Roxie, still holding the ice to her ankle. Every instinct in her body was telling her to go, but it just didn’t feel right to take a girl’s cigarettes and leave her crying alone in her room.  


“Hey. Listen to me,” she said forcefully. “I’m not gonna leave you behind, okay? It’s not happening. We’re Roxie and Velma. We’re a team. And I can’t do this without you.” She lifted Roxie’s chin up so she would meet her eyes. “I won’t do this without you.”  


By now the tears had stopped flowing, but there were tear stains visible when Roxie looked at her.  


“Really?”  


Despite her partner’s cockiness and occasional diva attitude, Velma had to remind herself of who she was- an attention-starved insecure young adult who’s terrified of failure. It made Velma want to protect her from everything, just wrap her up in that quilt and never let her go.  


“Believe it, kid,” she replied, dropping her hand from Roxie’s face. “I bring the razzle, you bring the dazzle. Right?”  


Roxie gave a small laugh at the reference to their former shared lawyer. Velma smiled in response.  


“You know, you’ve got a real cute laugh,” she teased. “I wish I could hear it more often.” She ghosted her fingers up the sole of Roxie’s left foot, the one not attached to the sprained ankle. Roxie gave a squeal and yanked her foot away.  


“Don’t!”  


Velma laughed louder now at her friend’s desperate tone. “Alright, I’ll stop.” She gave a long look at Roxie’s face. “You feel better?”  


Roxie pulled the quilt up to her shoulders and nodded. “Much better.”  


Velma smiled once again at Roxie, and there she stayed until Roxie fell asleep, the cigarettes in her pocket forgotten.

**Author's Note:**

> find me on tumblr at olliedollie1204.tumblr.com


End file.
